


As Wolfbats

by kakfa (orphan_account)



Series: Avatar in the time of Quarantine [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, Arranged Marriage, Gen, earth kingdom aristocracy, mostly platonic guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23635096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/kakfa
Summary: Long Feng arranges a meeting between them because he thinks she is meek, obedient, and well-mannered. But Toph Bei Fong in reality is, well… not exactly any of these things.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Kuei
Series: Avatar in the time of Quarantine [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699612
Comments: 3
Kudos: 86





	As Wolfbats

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: a rare pairing; toph/kuei. slightly based on that moment when toph makes the sandcastle model of ba sing se, complete with a tiny king kuei and bosco during the "beach" episode in book 3. written as practice during the quarantine. AU.
> 
> as always, my PM's are open for other prompts (no guarantees - but i will consider them!)

Long Feng arranges a meeting between them because he thinks she is meek, obedient, and well-mannered.

But Toph Bei Fong in reality is, well… not exactly any of these things. Or so he’s coming to learn. 

“Your adviser,” She says after her parents and Long Feng retreat into the palace, and the Dai Li move themselves away an acceptable number of paces.

She has such pale, milky skin, and her hair is dark as a ravencrow’s feather, elegantly coiled around her head in two buns like lotuses. So it’s a surprise when she next says: “A real creep, that one.”

“Oh,” is all Kuei manages for the moment. Then, “Nobody’s ever told me that before.”

She looks in his direction like she can see him. He finds it impossible to look away. Such white eyes. If he were the type of nobleman to write verses, he would say they were like pearls, and then he would be embarrassed of the poor analogy. “I apologize. I believe I’m staring.”

She shrugs. “Stare all you want. You think I care?”

Kuei nods. True; it doesn’t seem like she cared about that. Toph Bei Fong is neither meek nor well-mannered (at least in this instance) but there are plenty of other things worth his consideration.

Like how she would be sixteen in two years, and if (as Long Feng is fond of saying) all goes to plan, they could be married then. Like how her blood flows from the wealthy Bei Fongs of Gaoling, and it would be good to reconnect the people of Ba Sing Se with their brothers in those distant, mountainous regions. How, if Kuei remembers his genealogy correctly, they share the same aunt about seven or eight generations back, and thus some portion of Earth Royalty also flows through her, however miniscule. In any case, it’s better than what the Pangs and the Yum Soon Hans have.

They walk a little more in silence.

Then she stops. “Look, buster,” Toph says, and Kuei actually pauses at the word – _buster._ He doesn’t think he’s ever heard that in court. “If we’re gonna get married, then you might as well know. I’m an earthbender. And I ain’t got any plans of leaving Gaoling for your stupid court!”

He blinks. “You’re an earthbender?”

She is draped in the smoothest silk, with rich, autumnal leaves embroidered all over her sleeves. She has such small feet – she is a small thing in general, barely coming up to his shoulder. Kuei imagines such fine sleeves being covered in dirt, such tiny legs planted in the earth, and he finds himself fascinated, like the first time he saw Bosco drink tea from a cup – “Tell me more. That must be incredible! What’s it like? I’ve always wished I could…”

“Woah there –“ She holds up her hands. She’s staring straight at his chest in bewilderment, “ – aren’t you surrounded by earthbenders? These Dai Li guys. Your whole people are made of earthbenders! Haven’t you ever seen it?”

He sighs. “Long Feng says it’s too dangerous. But I’ve always wanted to know…”

“Stop right there.” And she takes a few steps. “I can’t really do much in this friggin’ dress but –“

Kuei watches: the way her body, so small and fragile, shifts into something hard as stone when she takes up a stance. She closes her fist and brings it to her side, her back as straight as the tallest mountain. With her other arm, she motions up.

A column of stone emerges from the ground beneath them.

“That’s amazing!” He exclaims. Upon closer examination, he sees that the stone is not merely raw stone, but a statue. “You did all that with just that – “ Kuei mimics her chop in the air, but of course no stone rises to meet him. He’s always known he isn't a bender. “Just that?”

Toph smiles. It’s a sly, confident thing. It’s the first time he’s seen such an easy expression on her. “ _Yup.”_

She pats her hands as if removing some dust and approaches her handiwork. “What do you think?”

He adjusts the glasses on his nose. It’s a statue of him – robes and all. The statue is exactly his height and width, and the shaped stone robes are exactly like the robes he wears, down to the last fold. She’s even gotten the exact size of the jade beads he wears around his neck. “Extraordinary,” He murmurs.

“You think so?”

“Absolutely.”

But he takes a closer look at the statue’s face: he finds another man’s eyes and nose. He’s also missing his glasses.

“Oh,” He says. “I suppose you wouldn’t really know.” Then he turns to face her with his own smile. “May I?”

“Huh? What?” Kuei suspects she wasn’t really listening. She shrugs and waves a hand. “Sure, go ahead.”

“I don’t know if this will be useful to you – “ Then he takes the hand she’s waving, gentle as the most careful suitor. “But this is what I look like.”

Her hand is rough, riddled with calluses. It’s somehow a startling contrast to such pale skin, but they are an earthbender’s hands. Her earthbending is such a wild and unexpected thing, and she is so talented; she is not at all what Long Feng says she is – but he finds himself delighted all the same.

With her hand, he first traces the general length of his face. Too long, or so he thinks, compared to the faces of other, popular noblemen.

Next he traces his eyes. Too narrow, he has been told, though not directly to his ears.

Last he traces his nose. Straight, the trademark of his royal family. His father had the same regal nose, and the poets say it was one of the things that made his mother, the greatest beauty in Ba Sing Se, fall in love with him.

At the end of his nose, however, are his glasses. Which his father, or any of his esteemed ancestors, or anyone in the history of the Earth Kingdom court really, didn’t have.

Toph doesn’t say anything the entire time. But when she feels his glasses, she plucks them off his face, smoothing her fingers over the lenses. “What’s this?”

“My glasses,” He says, keenly aware of how it sounds. You are not, exactly, supposed to advertise your defects during a courtship. But Kuei has always been honest. “I’ve had them specially made ever since I was a child. Without them, I’m afraid I’m as blind as a wolfbat.”

But she takes all this with only a nod. “Or a badgermole,” She offers.

“A badgermole?”

“Yeah,” Toph replies, sly smile still tugging the corners of her mouth. She hands him his spectacles back, and when he balances them on the bridge of his nose again, he sees that the lenses are imprinted with her fingertips. He doesn’t wipe them off. “A badgermole. They’re blind too, but since they live under mountains, they learned how to bend the earth so they could move around. I learned from them.”

Then she raises her hand again, striking the statue once. A little rubble falls off the face of the statue.

He chuckles upon another inspection of stone-Kuei’s new features. “You flatter me too much.”

“You haven’t told me or my family to go home yet, even if you know what I am.” Her eyes – they are not pearls, exactly. Lilies? Clouds? No – her eyes are too fierce, too proud, but they are not looking at him. Instead, she’s staring away from him.

“You’re strong and talented,” He says, slightly mystified by her indirect response. “You come from a good family and you’ve learned from creatures like badgermoles. You’ll come of age by the time we finish a betrothal, and you’re beautiful. Why should I send you away?”

“I don’t care about my family! I only care about my earthbending – “

He feels even more baffled by this. “– Then why should I send you away? I won’t stop you from earthbending. Far from it! The Earth Kingdom _should_ be ruled by someone as strong and talented as you, and – “

“ – Wait,” She looks at him. He wonders for a moment about how she can _really_ see him, how her earthbending really works, how exactly it relates to badgermoles, and how her cheeks are now turning the slightest shade red. “You think I’m beautiful?”


End file.
